Back home!

I finally made it back home. What a nice feeling! Amy, Hazel and Henry picked me up at the airport last night. While I held Hazel in my arms, Henry kept reaching out from Amy's arms to try to touch me. It reminded me of the video David after the Dentist when he says "Is this real life?" as Henry wasn't sure I was real or just a FaceTime image. Apparently, the airport put my luggage on a different flight so I wasn't able to get it last night but we opted to have drop it off for us. It arrived noon today and I honestly wouldn't have had energy to open it and sort through the mess so all is well that ends well.

Thank you for reading this blog! So many more read it than I thought would. It was a joy to reflect daily on what I got to see and experience. I imagine there were a lot of typos or errors as I was writing on the go, but hopefully things were clear. I also think it was a good way for people to read as much or as little as they wanted to and see relevant pictures. On that note, I took some 1,400 pictures and will be posting some of the best on Facebook or somewhere else. I will be sure to put a link back on this blog if you are interested. Thanks again!

You know you're in Boston when. . .

The TSA person shouts out: "Guys! Make sure you empty ya pockets, no receipts, no papers, no nothin'.

Ugh, I feel like a dirty zombie.

Last night I spent the night in Helsinki airport and manage to get 3 hours or so of sleep. From there I caught a 2 hour flight to Frankfurt with a four hour layover. I slept there for a couple of hours too. I just got off a 6 hour flight or so and am now in Boston waiting for my last flight to San Francisco. I am ashamed to say I have been in the same clothes for nearly two days now (even though, technically, I have come from the future and this is all one day), I have serious stubble and probably smell like a homeless person. Not including layovers, I figure I am spending about 12+ hours in the air today. So much for air travel being luxurious. 

Babiators

Why did Amy and I jump on this while the kids were young?!!!

   

Helsinki, Finland

I guess this blog should have been titled Spain, Russia and Finland as I planned to spend at least one day in Helsinki before flying home. Too late now. :) I'll make sure Finland gets its due here though.

Despite my frantic boarding this morning, the train ride excellent. The stewardesses and customs agents were nice and multilingual. Right off of the train I was greeted by Helsinki information people handing out free maps. A few minutes later I was able to talk to an agent at an city information desk and get clear help on how to get to the airport, stow my luggage for the day at the train station and find an ATM. The people here in Helsinki are really nice people. . .of the Russians I encountered many of them were nice too but not outgoing. Expecting a smile might be pushing it. Here in Helsinki I get a smile and very clear English. I almost feel bad that I don't know any Suomi or Suoma (see I don't even know what to call it, I know it's not Finnish).

I found a one day tour online and decided to follow it since I hadn't really researched what to see. If you're interested in all the details the link is here http://wikitravel.org/en/Helsinki_itineraries  After stowing my luggage, my first stop was the Espanadi Park, a small slice of green belt of what was once bourgeoisie stone houses and the outskirts of the city, where many of the poor lived in wooden houses. Once a gated strolling place it is, of course now open to everyone. The city takes good care of it as everything looks healthy, green with planter beds adding color. There is a restaurant at the end for super fancy people who want to each lunch for 19 € or more. . .no thanks. I did stand a watch a alt rock band do their thing for an hour in the afternoon. It sounded good, if you like the Franz Ferdinand/Blur sound. Don't ask me for their name, I am sure it's super complicated with circles over the "A"s and umlauts over the "U"s.

Next, was the Senate square with the Lutheran cathedral looming over. Once I reached the square I had a cup or two of tea in this cool little cafe called, Cafe Engel. The tea was more than it should have cost, something like 3 or 4€ (I read somewhere that food prices are more expensive in Helsinki, and I guess I am cheap) but I enjoyed the atmosphere. Fully charged, I walked past the statue of Alexander  II of Russia (erected here when Finland belonged to Russia) and up the steep steps to the Lutheran cathedral and check out its interior. Inside, the cathedral was plain but also made of quality materials--which is typical of reformation era churches which wanted to distance themselves from the excessive luxury with which the Catholic church used its money in those times (e.g. elaborate Baroque designs, gilded everything, precious stones, neck chains with dollar signs on them. . .wait, take that last part back ;) Statues of Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon and some other guy I didn't recognize adorned three of the four inside corners of the church with the last corner being the raised pulpit.

Uspensky Cathedral was an interesting contrast to the Lutheran Cathedral. If I read the Russian plaque right, Uspensky was commissioned by Nicholas the I or Alexander II and had been completed by a later Tsar. It's outside decoration is what you would expect of a Russian or Greek Orthodox Church. The interior was painted with vivid colors depicting various saints and apostles whose names were written in either Old Slavonic or a script so fancy I can't read it. 

   Uspensky Cathedral

Just a minute or two walk away was the Market square which had lots of great arts and crafts like homemade jewelry, reindeer antler bottle openers or cork screws (really, you could get just about anything made of antler), postcards, magnets, the usual souvenir stuff. Right next to the bay, it also offered a lot of fresh sea food. For lunch I had a salmon plate that changed my life. It was seasoned salmon with a kind of dill garlic sauce, boiled melon balled potatoes mixed with some squash, carrots and a little side salad. Even though it was 10€ (here I go again) it was well worth the price for fresh food.

    Mmmmmm. Salmon

After l lunch I leisurely walked to The Church in the Rock which was well. . .you guessed it, again, a church cathedral in a rock. The center part of the feeling had copper in the middle. The acoustics were pretty good but not enough to hush up a large group from Asia that spoke as if they were outside despite signs in multiple languages to be quiet. 

    The Church in the Rock

The last significant things I did following that was shop Stockmanns and a few other stores a bit an get a great view of the city from the top of a hotel building (one of the tallest in the city). After that I simply walked to new places, sat in scenic park benches or revisit old areas. Helsinki would be a nice place to bring the family if we ever get a chance to get back here. With the exception of me nearly missing my train, it has been an easy, relaxed day. I had plenty of time to see things and even sit and sip tea. Here is a low res shot from my iPad. Gorgeous huh?

   Helsinki

I nearly missed my train!

I was almost too late to catch my train to Helsinki, frankly too close for comfort. I was, literally, the last one on, sweating and breathing hard. I woke up a little late but encountered a longer wait in the metro than I anticipated. When I could, I ran hard. I arrived in the train station about 2 mins. early but it turned out that the international station was around the corner and down the street. I turned around and ran back out and around the train station. I took a chance on a particular direction and lucked out. As I ran in I saw a police officer, said the number of my train in Russian too him and several people told me to hurry and ushered me on board. I guess I should have gotten up earlier. Thus far the ride to Helsinki is pretty though. . .if I could only get my heart to slow down a bit. :)

   Vyborg from the Train

Peterhof, and До свидания St. Petersburg!

Today was my last day in St. Petersburg and the finale of my trip--Peterhof! Peterhof was Peter the Great's answer to the Versailles palace. It is located southeast of St. Petersburg along the Baltic coast. A fan of sailing and the ocean, Peter made sure the place has a lot of aquatic influences, the most significant being the palace complex's many opulent fountains--a difficult thing to engineer in the early 1700s. 

To get there I had to go on a bit of an adventure. I took the Metro from Vosstaniya to Baltiskaya, then I walked out of the station and took a маршрутка or mini bus. It was the cheapest of all the options to get to Peterhof. Sure, I could have taken the hydrofoil but it was a ton of money and I wanted to take public transport for the thrill of it! Apparently, on a маршрутка the bus driver is the guy you pay and he gives you change while he drives. . . scary huh? At any rate, I made it and it only cost me about 70 rubles or the equivalent of about $2.50 or something like that. The bus dropped me off right out side of the Upper Garden at about 11:00am and I bought a ticket to Lower Garden (to see the fountains and the palace grounds) and then immediately started queuing to get a ticket for the Grand Palace. I waited in line for an about an hour. Then it started raining.

   Peterhof

Side Story Time! Yesterday, at Tsarskoe Selo, it started raining before I got off the bus. I panicked and bought a poncho for like $8 thinking we would be outside a lot and I did not have my North Face jacket with me. Turned out that I only needed it for like 5 minutes as we walked to Catherine's palace and not afterwards in the surrounding gardens the so I felt like a total dummy. Today, I got my money's worth.

Back to Peterhof. After I got inside the ticket office I thought I would immediately get to go inside the palace. Not so! I had to queue outside with ticket holders to get in. In the second line, I waited another hour in the rain but luckily I had my poncho and stayed dry. When I got inside we put on shoe covers to protect the parquet flooring and were ushered through in groups. Included in the price was a tour guide and a headset to hear the tour guide, only it was in Russian. Thinking back now, I should have gotten it anyway. Thankfully, my Rough Guide had a walk through. Seriously, this book has gotten me through so much. I hate to give a shameless plug for a tour book, but honestly it covers so much. 

    Rough Guide to St. Petersburg

After the palace, the rain stopped and for the rest of my time there it was a beautiful day with blue skies and big puffy white clouds. I checked out the grounds and made sure to see at least every major fountain. I think my favorite was pyramid fountain, but really they were all excellent. 

   Pyramid Fountain 

Next to the palace grounds is Alexandria Park--a huge, mostly depopulated park with the Cottage Palace where Nicholas I and successive generations of Romanov's lived in a normal sized (by American standards) house. To visit it I had to exit Peterhof and buy a ticket for that park. Once at the cottage I had to buy a ticket there as well. Are you getting this? Everything is compartmentalized. I had to buy 4 tickets today! Too see everything, which is crazy, would cost thousands of rubles. At the ticket office the I thought the price was 200 rubles but it turned out to be 400 rubles. My heart sort of sank as I only had a few hundred rubles with me and I needed at least 70 to get back. The girl there asked me if I was a student and I replied that I was not. She said something after that that I quickly realized meant that she wanted me to fake being a student. OK! I gave her my CA drivers license, she looked at it and in a wink-kind-of-way gave it back to me and only charged me 200 rubles. That's Russia for you.

   Cottage Palace

The cottage was especially neat as it was more intimate than the palaces I've seen. You could see beds, sinks, and personal belongings on display as they would have been nearly 200 years ago. For my last hour or so in the park I strolled Alexandria park and snapped shots of scenic areas. This place would serve as a great picnic spot and a safe place for kids to run around without worry of creepy types.

The trip back home was relatively easy. I walked back to where the bus dropped me off. When the sign didn't have my bus' number, I asked a local and she helped me. I did have to stand most of the way back though as the bus was packed. 

I will miss St. Petersburg. The people here are nice even though they don't smile much, I was able to brush up on my Russian and use it to get by in a few instances, and the stay with Irina and her family has been great. I knew I was taking a risk staying with a Russian family I did not know, but I really think it gave me a more authentic Russian experience than staying in a hotel or hostel. Tomorrow, I leave St. Petersburg on a train for Helsinki where I will spend a day then catch my flight home. I am super excited to see my wife and kids! I'll blog along the way if there is wifi available.